Property stocks rebound as NZX climbs to positive territory - Market close

The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed to positive territory by the end of the day, gaining 28.8 points or 0.25 per cent to 11,753.02.

The New Zealand sharemarket had a late bounce on a quiet day and was helped along by a rebound in the property stocks.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday low of 11,658.13 and climbed to positive territory by the end of the day, gaining 28.8 points or 0.25 per cent to 11,753.02.

There were 70 gainers and 64 decliners on the main board with 33.64 million shares worth $114.42 million changing hands.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said “we saw a few price movements and some of them were a backwash from the recent index changes”.

The property sector was up 1.07 per cent on the NZX index. Goodson said Precinct Properties’ weighting increased in the top 50 following the sale of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s 15 per cent shareholding, and the other property stocks were down-weighted.

“They bounced back after the sell-off the day before. Oceania Healthcare fell out of the MSCI Small Cap Index and it also bounced back from some weakness,” Goodson said.

Oceania Healthcare was up 2c or 3.28 per cent to 63c but is still at a four-year low. Fellow retirement village operator Arvida Group gained 3c or 3.16 per cent to 98c, and Ryman Healthcare was down 14c or 3.05 per cent to $4.45.

In the property sector, Goodman Trust rose 5c or 2.33 per cent to $2.20; Vital Healthcare Trust was up 2.5c to $2.04; Kiwi increased 2c or 2.42 per cent to 84.5c; Investore added 2c or 1.89 per cent to $1.08; and Property for Industry improved 1c to $2.195.

Stride Property, unchanged at $1.26, told the market its Industre Property Joint Venture is developing a five green star warehouse and office building in Hamilton for $31m and will be leased by an existing Industre tenant for a 15-year term.

Precinct Properties was unchanged at $1.19. Milford Asset Management disclosed it increased its shareholding in Precinct to 5.91 per cent, and Precinct chief executive Scott Pritchard picked up a further 181,818 shares for $199,999 from the Abu Dhabi sale. Pritchard now has 1m shares in the company.

In the United States, the major indices had an off-day with Dow Jones Industrial down 0.25 per cent to 38,989.83 points; S&P 500 declining 0.12 per cent to 5130.95; and Nasdaq Composite shedding 0.41 per cent to 16,207.51.

The February ANZ World Commodity Price Index gained 3.5 per cent with dairy, meat and fibre prices continuing to improve.

Log exporters reported some improved demand from China as building activity lifted following the New Year holiday period. However, log returns are negatively impacted by the lift in global shipping costs.

At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased 25c to $24.69; Contact Energy was up 12c to $8.30; Meridian gained 9c to $6; Skellerup rose 11c or 2.56 per cent to $4.41; Port of Tauranga added 7c to $5.40; and Napier Port was up 4c to $2.49.

Heartland Group rose 10c or 8.7 per cent to $1.25; Blackpearl Group increased 9c or 18.75 per cent to 57c; Carbon Fund was up 6c or 3.51 per cent to $1.77; and The Warehouse rebounded 4c or 3.1 per cent to $1.33.

Utilities investor Infratil gained 5c to $10.34 after holding an investor day in Sydney. Infratil said its portfolio, valued at $12.65 billion, was well positioned in high-quality platforms in growing sectors.

Wellington Airport was emerging strongly from Covid and repricing; healthcare businesses were tracking ahead of peers; and CDC data centre had a record contracting year and was accelerating growth plans.

Goodson said Infratil made no change to its earnings guidance and the presentation showed a reliance on data centres – “they have gone hard down that route.” The digital division, which included One NZ (formerly Vodafone), made up 64 per cent of Infratil’s investment assets.

Mainfreight was down 50c to $67.75; Ebos Group gave up 35c to $36.65; Auckland International Airport shed 13.5c to $8.035; Chorus decreased 8.5c to $7.92; and Synlait Milk declined 3c or 3.9 per cent to 74c.

Serko was down 8c or 1.99 per cent to $3.95; Vital fell 2.5c or 9.8 per cent to 23c; Green Cross Health declined 5c or 4.39 per cent to $1.09; Rakon decreased 4c or 3.08 per cent to $1.26; and TradeWindow shed 1c or 4.88 per cent to 19.5c.

Transport technology firm Eroad declined 2c or 2.47 per cent to 79c after announcing a dual chief executive role with David Kenneson joining Mark Heine and concentrating on market growth. Heine will focus on product development.